Vietnam calls for submissions under 'safeguard' review

Exporters of carbon steel billets and long products including rebars to Vietnam, as well as domestic producers and consumers of these items, are being invited to submit their views on whether safeguard duties due to expire on March 21 next year should be allowed to lapse or be extended. Interested parties have until mid-August to respond, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The case dates from July 2016 when Vietnam imposed safeguard tariffs on steel imports in response to complaints from domestic long products makers that imports, especially those from China, were disturbing the local market, hampering sales and causing stocks to rise.

The targeted items are under the following HS codes: 7207.11.00; 7207.19.00; 7207.20.29; 7207.20.99; 7224.90.00; 7213.10.10; 7213.10.90; 7213.91.20; 7214.20.31; 7214.20.41; 7227.90.00; 7228.30.10; 9811.00.00.

During January-June 2016, of the 9.6 million tonnes of long products Vietnam imported, some 5.6 million tonnes originated in China, up 45% on-year, Vietnam Customs reported at the time.

One of the four plaintiffs in the case, Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Company (TISCO), located north of Hanoi, complained that prices of imported steel billets had halved in the space of just a few months.

"With such low prices, domestic steel billet manufacturers cannot compete, leading to some Vietnamese steel billet factories producing in moderation, even closing," a TISCO official was quoted as saying.

One of those opposing the safeguards was Kyoei Steel Vietnam (KSVC), a subsidiary of Japan's largest rebar maker Kyoei Steel, whose plant just north of Ho Chi Minh City was importing billets from its parent plants in Japan to roll into rebars. "We propose (an) import quota system for businesses, instead of imposing tariffs," a senior KSVC official had suggested.

In the initial ruling, tariffs as high as 23.3% were slapped on billet imports, and 15% on bars, with the size of the penalties shrinking to zero by March 22, 2020, Mysteel Global noted. However, days before the safeguards were to expire, the Vietnamese government decided to extend the safeguards till March 22 next year. Currently, billet imports attract safeguard penalties of 11.3% and rebars of 6.4%.

"From March 22, 2023, if the authorities do not continue to renew, the tax rate will return to 0%," a report last week in local media Baodautu noted, pointing out that the government will begin another review in August and that "domestic organizations and individuals producing similar goods or competitive goods directly" can submit their arguments seeking a further extension by before 17:00 on August 13.

Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.